


Slight Errors of a Knight Errant

by Red Charade (traciller)



Series: Flash Tumblr Ficlets [32]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Fantasy AU, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Shapeshifting, babydragon!Michael, dragon!Len, knight!Barry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-31
Updated: 2016-03-31
Packaged: 2018-05-30 07:45:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6415012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traciller/pseuds/Red%20Charade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry Allen is a young knight who takes on the task of slaying a dragon, swayed by the pleas of a desperate village who have heard that he does good deeds for free if the villages can’t pay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slight Errors of a Knight Errant

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this Tumblr post: http://batreaux.tumblr.com/post/38189694757/you-finally-sneak-into-the-dragons-cave-and-find

Barry Allen is a young knight who takes on the task of slaying a dragon, swayed by the pleas of a desperate village who have heard that he does good deeds for free if the villages can’t pay.

Initially, he figures he’s going to come across the dragon when he enters the cave but no…it’s kind of empty. There are signs that there’s someone or something living here but currently the place is empty.

He calls out for the dragon to show himself, but again…nothing.

Lowering and then sheathing his sword (shoulders drooping a little because he thought he was going to get to be badass and slay an actual dragon but there apparently is none or it’s not home right now…was it flying around outside? No, that would’ve been seen easily) he walks around the cave a bit, going down passageways and whatnot.

Basically, he’s exploring like a kid…even though he really should be more careful right now. The dragon might come back at any moment, after all.

Then he comes upon this room, large and open, and really only has one thing in it. A chest made of oak, strong and well-crafted. Barry’s eyes light up because this must be the treasure! He really wants to know what it might be, maybe the village could use it once the dragon is gone.

However, upon opening it he’s surprised to find…a drawing. A little kid’s drawing done with crayon and macaroni.

“This is treasure…?” Barry asks, eyes widening.

“IT’S TREASURE TO ME!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!!”

That…that was really loud and why was the temperature suddenly so low right now? Barry could see his breath fog in the air.

He drops the drawing back into the chest and lets go of the lid, hearing it slam shut behind him as he turns to face the dragon and sees….

Nothing.

He frowns and looks around, turning a literal 360 because wtf? Finally, his gaze stops on the entrance again and he notices that in the darkness there seems to be an eye taking up half the doorway.

Oh God. Yes. That was an eye, alright. It just blinked!

He was a brave, badass knight and he absolutely did not just whimper.

Hearing a snort, Barry frowned a little and calmed down. Was this dragon laughing at him?!

“WELL?? I’M NOT AVERSE TO BREAKING THIS WALL AND SWALLOWING YOU WHOLE.”

“Daddy, no!”

This voice was much smaller and much more human. Enough so that it totally confused Barry and he was looking around again because…was he hearing things??

And then a child (a child, omg, what was a kid doing in this dangerous place! There was a DRAGON in here! Was it stealing kids now, omg!) squeezed in from underneath what might have been part of the dragon’s chin and ran over to hug Barry around the waist.

“MICHAEL! GET AWAY FROM HIM, HE HAS A SWORD!!”

“No, Daddy, it’s okay, he’s a good knight! Like in the stories. He’s the one who saved me yesterday from the man at the creek!”

Barry’s eyes widened as he looked down at the boy, Michael apparently, who had attached himself to Barry’s person. The kid was definitely familiar and he remembered that incident. He’d been on his way here when he’d come across a man with a large rock menacing a terrified little boy. This little boy, who was much happier today.

“You told me that house I brought you to belonged to your parents!” Barry said, kneeling down and putting his hands on Michael’s shoulders.

“Well, yeah. I had to say that. I couldn’t have you take me to my real home. You wouldn’t have believed me or you might have misunderstood my daddy,” Michael said, giving Barry an appraising look as though he wasn’t sure how someone who became a knight could be so stupid.

It wasn’t like kids hadn’t given him that look before. Iris and Eddie’s little girl did it routinely and she was only 5.

“Michael, get away from him. He might hurt you.” the new voice was firm with a hint of cold steel behind it. Also a hint of desperation.

Barry looked up and saw a man in the doorway instead of a dragon’s eye, but he didn’t stay in the doorway. He was walking toward them.

Michael gave a little sigh, “no, Daddy, I told you. He already saved me once.”

“That was when he thought you were human. He came here with that sword for a reason. Get away from him,” the man, who Barry was certain was the dragon (he didn’t know they could do that!), warned but he stopped before he quite reached them, looking unsure.

Barry knew what he was thinking, the way he looked from Michael, to Barry’s hold on the boy, to Barry’s sword.

“He wouldn’t do something that bad, would you, Barry?” Michael asked, looking up at Barry was a confused, but guileless, expression.

Barry never enforced the title of Sir and he had seen no reason to start doing so with a boy who had just been through so much last night.

He looked from Michael to the man who clearly wanted to lunge and take the boy away from Barry. He might be a dragon in human form right now, but he was also a worried father.

Barry sighed and gave Michael a pat on his shoulders before standing upright again, “no, of course not. I just came for a visit. Go on back to your dad, now, he looks like he could use a hug.”

Michael turned and went back to his dad to hug him, “see, Daddy, I told you!”

Barry knew the man was looking at him but he couldn’t help look over at the treasure chest. His treasure, huh? Barry couldn’t help it when his eyes softened.

Come to think of it, he never really did ask why the villagers wanted the dragon killed. He had just heard that there was a dragon here and they were afraid and that was as far as he’d bothered to look. Maybe that’s all it really was for the villagers; fear of something big with sharp teeth living nearby and their heads filled with stories about great and terrible dragons murdering people.

Barry really ought to stop thinking stories told to children to make them behave were real.

He looked back over at how tightly the man was holding his son.

“I should probably–” Barry started but was interrupted.

“Stay for dinner,” the man said, tone firm as though it was already settled.

“What…?” Barry asked, his voice definitely not giving a little squeak.

“You saved my son yesterday and tried to walk him home and then came for a visit today. So stay for dinner. I think we’ve got some things to discuss,” the man said, letting go of the hug he had had his son in and standing up, taking the little boy by the shoulder and turning him around to face the room’s entrance. Also, conveniently or not, the only exit.

“Go on and get washed up, Michael,” the man said and Michael hurried out, yelling excitedly on his way to the doorway about some of the things he couldn’t wait to tell Barry about.

“Come with me and I’ll show you where you can get cleaned up, as well, Barry,” the man said, looking Barry up and down in a slow drag of ice-blue eyes that..he was pretty sure had just shifted to slit-pupils for a split-second. That should not be sexy.

Nor should the way the man had just practically caressed Barry’s name with his tongue.

Wait! Was he being flirted with or just messed with? Because, he had the distinct feeling he was being flirted with and he wasn’t sure what to think about that. After all, it’s not like Barry had been paying any attention at all to the man’s plush lips, broad shoulders, or long legs which, despite the slender build the man sported, allowed him a sturdy stance.

“U-um…so what’s your name? I mean, I’m not trying to pry or anything, but you know mine so I just thought I’d…y’know…ask. Y-your son is adorable, by the way…I’m glad he’s okay,” Barry rambled as he walked toward the man and headed toward the exit.

“And believe me no one’s more glad about that than I am. You can call me Leonard,” the man said, following Barry out a little bit behind but not so far that Barry couldn’t easily see him in his peripheral.

**Author's Note:**

> I was gonna add something about how Len has a regular treasure room deeper down into the caves for all the shiny things he likes, but I couldn't make it work without the transition seeming abrupt and out of place.


End file.
